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SIGGRAPH 2012 is now over… but there is still lots to see here on AREA. If you missed any of the content streamed live during the show, be sure to check out the “on-demand” material below. Great content will be added during and after the event, so be sure to check out AREA frequently.

Attend classes covering everything from the basics of concept design to advanced visual effects, keynotes, product demonstrations, exhibits, and networking events. AU is the ideal place for artists and enthusiasts to push their boundaries, learn from industry veterans, and hear about Autodesk digital entertainment solutions.

Join your peers from around the world, November 27-29, 2012 in Las Vegas

We’re excited to welcome the Socialcam team to Autodesk, bringing the #1 mobile video app to our creative customers. Check out what some of our booth staff members did with Socialcam, when they used it for the first time. Click on the socialcam icon for the list of videos to start playing

Matt Middleton is CG Supervisor at MPC in London with 9 years’ experience in visual effects.After studying Computer Visualisation and Animation at Bournemouth University, Matt began his career in 2003 working at Hourglass Studios as a digital effects artist on the Jim Henson Pictures movie Mirror Mask.

In 2005 Matt joined MPC to work on The Da Vinci Code and Golden Age. Matt’s talents as an artist were quickly ecognised and between 2007 and 2009 Matt worked on a number of high profile movies as sequence supervisor / Lookdev lead including Wolfman, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Watchmen. In 2009 Matt accepted the role of CG Supervisor working on Prince of Persia, followed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and most recently Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.

Patrick Runyon is the North American Product Specialist for Xsens, makers of the MVN Inertial Motion Capture System. Since 1992, Runyon has concentrated exclusively on motion capture based animation, working in both video games and special fx for films until joining Xsens in 2008. He is currently part of the Xsens Entertainment Sales team providing product demonstration, training, and support

David Cullipher has been creating amazing CG and interactive work for more than 16 years and has a deep understanding of all aspects of digital production. As Creative Director, David’s role is to oversee the final product and ensure that it meets both the project’s objectives and his own high demand for quality. David’s professional skill set includes an intimate knowledge of 3D tools, including 3ds Max, Maya, V-Ray, Mudbox, Motion Builder and Keyshot, as well as interactive development in Unity 3D, Flash, ActionScript, PHP, Javascript, HTML5, CSS, Objective C, Python and ASP. He has led his team in creating many successful marketing projects for Ford, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Hyundai, Dow, Sony, T-Mobile, VW, Microsoft, EA, HTC, Blue Cross, and Adobe.

Pete Bandstra is Program Director for 3D Arts degree program, which includes Computer Animation Bachelor Degree and Game Art Bachelor Degree programs at Full Sail University. Taking the role of Program Director over the associates degree for Computer Animation, Pete would design and launch the Bachelor degree in 2006, followed by Game Art Bachelor degree in 2008.

Working the last 14 years educating the students inside the classroom, as well as serving as a professional freelance educator. Pete was honored with the prestigious Full Sail University Top Gun Award in 2001.

Andrew Hwang is a Full Sail University Alumni member that has worked on box office hits such as Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, Xmen, and the Avengers. Graduating from the Computer Animation Bachelors program in 2006. Shortly thereafter, he took the plunge and moved out to California with strong determination and big dreams. Andrew was able to launch his career starting off in video games and production titles such as Resident Evil, the Command and Conquer Series and later on, big titles such as Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. Since then he has nested and been ever vigilant in his position as Senior Assets modeler of The Third Floor, a Los Angeles studio where he has been a pre-visualization artist since 2008.

Alex McDowell is one of the most innovative and influential designers working in narrative media, with the impact of his ideas extending far beyond his background in cinema. McDowell advocates an immersive design process that acknowledges the key role of world-building in visual storytelling.

Since moving to LA from London in 1986, McDowell has designed for directors as diverse as Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, David Fincher, Zack Snyder and Steven Spielberg. He recently completed Man of Steel with director Zack Snyder, produced by Chris Nolan. With many awards for his film design work, McDowell was named a Royal Designer for Industry by the UK’s Royal Society of Arts in 2006. McDowell currently serves on the AMPAS SciTech Council. He is Design Consultant at the School of Cinematic Arts, USC, and is Visiting Artist at MIT’s Media Lab, where he collaborated with composer Tod Machover on the robot opera Death and the Powers.

He continues to work as a visual consultant and speaker, focused on the reframing of the designer’s role in the future of storytelling - building worlds as containers of narrative, and machines of the imagination. McDowell is co-founder and creative director of the 5D | Institute, and the 5D | Building Worlds initiative, a global series of distributed events and an education space for an expanding community of thought leaders across narrative media.

Wayne Stables has been working in the visual effects industry for over fifteen years. Wayne started out writing educational software that used a graphics-oriented approach to learning. He worked at PDI/ Dreamworks on Shrek 2 and as a CG Supervisor at Electronic Arts.
Wayne started at Weta Digital in 1994 and has worked on projects including The Frighteners, Contact, The Lord of The Rings trilogy and Avatar. He helped develop the lighting and rendering pipeline that was used across Avatar.
Wayne’s latest project was The Adventures of Tintin, for which he was nominated for two VES awards and a Bafta. He is currently working on an unannounced project.

Ryan Tudhope is co-founder and visual effects supervisor of Atomic Fiction, a studio
specializing in digital characters and effects for major motion pictures, cinematics and commercials. Tudhope has supervised or produced visual effects on numerous films including Flight, Looper, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Superman Returns, Sin City, Hellboy and the Academy Award-winning Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. On the commercial front, Tudhope has supervised visual effects for clients including Sony, IBM, Disney, Nike and the US Navy. Earlier in his career, Tudhope parlayed his interest in film and computer graphics into a job at Skywalker Ranch just days after his high school graduation. Once there, he worked directly with George Lucas, designing key sequences for Star Wars: Episode One. He is a Visual Effects Society Bay Area board member, has been featured on numerous panels and publications and actively speaks to promote school-to-career programs, advice on entering the workforce and the use of technology in the classroom.

After earning his Film Degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, Chris Edwards was able to land a position at Walt Disney Feature Animation 1997, working as 3-D Layout artist and Lead Assistant Animator on Dinosaur and Treasure Planet. Then in 2002, Chris was hired by Lucasfilm to previsualize extensive changes to George Lucas’ first feature filmed, THX 1138, as well as his new film, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. As the Star Wars project was winding down, it was Chris who proposed that this talented team artists form their own company. By 2004, The Third Floor had an established studio in Los Angeles.

Kevin is co-founder and VFX Supervisor at the Emeryville, CA based VFX studio Atomic Fiction. There, he has supervised visuals for projects such as the Academy Award-nominated Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Robert Zemeckis's upcoming live action film, Flight.
Before launching Atomic Fiction, Baillie supervised at Disney's ImageMovers Digital on the animated feature film Mars Needs Moms and Disney's A Christmas Carol. Prior to his work at IMD, Baillie helmed visual effects work at The Orphanage on award-winning movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Night at the Museum, Superman Returns, Harry Potter and Hellboy.
Baillie's film career began very early when he joined Lucasfilm's JAKFilms division as a pre-visualization artist on Star Wars Episode I at the age of 18.
He is a member of the Visual Effects Society and an active participant in the educational community, talking to students and educators in an effort to inform and inspire the next generation of filmmakers. Outside of work, his hobby is racing cars with in SCCA's Spec MIata series.

Shawn Kelly realized his dream to animate films with the help of three mentors who took a personal interest in his career. Convinced that animation lovers everywhere should have the same opportunity, he cofounded Animation Mentor, an online animation school with student/mentor relationships at its core.

Kelly works with Bobby Beck, Animation Mentor’s CEO and cofounder, and cofounder Carlos Baena to help define and shape the school’s overall direction. Kelly balances his Animation Mentor role with his work as a senior animator at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in San Francisco, Calif.

Born in Santa Rosa, Calif., and raised in Petaluma, Kelly set his sights on working at ILM at age 5 when the movie Star Wars hit the big screen. Under the tutelage of animators Bill Hennes and John Root, he studied drawing and computer software throughout high school, attended community college and later enrolled in the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

A summer internship at ILM introduced Kelly to another influential mentor, animation director Wayne Gilbert. It was through Gilbert that Kelly realized he wasn’t learning what he needed at school. Kelly left the academy in 1996 for a job as character animator at former video game and educational company Presage Software, but continued his studies with Gilbert twice a week.

In 1998, Kelly fulfilled his lifelong dream and landed a job at ILM. Since that time, he has worked on numerous films including War of the Worlds, for which he animated tripods and probes; Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, where he helped develop and animate the vulture droids and animated Yoda in a pivotal swordfight; and Rango, where he was the Lead Animator for both the Mayor of Dirt and the Spirit of the West. Kelly also worked as Lead Animator on all three Transformers movies. Kelly’s credits feature 23 films including Hulk, the Star Wars prequels, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and The Avengers.

Kelly received the 2007 award for the “Best Single Visual Effect of the Year” by the Visual Effects Society (VES), an organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences and application of visual effects. Kelly’s winning effect was for the desert highway sequence of Transformers, in which Bonecrusher skates through traffic, destroys a bus and fights Optimus Prime.

Kelly has developed curriculum and taught at the Academy of Art University and was on the team that earned the 2000 CLIO award for Best Computer Animation for a Pepsi/Star Wars “Alien” campaign. Kelly currently lives in San Anselmo, Calif., where he reads a lot — especially comics — and writes short films.

Matt Middleton, CG Supervisor at MPC presents an overview of approaches taken in MPC's work for Ridley Scott's Prometheus. MPC delivered 430 shots including the Prometheus Ship, the Engineer's ship and the Alien Planet LV223.

Chris Edwards, CEO of THE THIRD FLOOR, will demonstrate the previs studio’s ability to design and direct complex scenes in real time with real actors. By integrating Xsens’ wireless motion capture suits, THE THIRD FLOOR’s virtual prototyping process is even more flexible, portable and affordable. Make sure to witness what THE THIRD FLOOR can conjure up live inside MotionBuilder 2013.

How we use CG pipelines to create rich interactive content across multiple digital platforms. "With the ever growing number of screens that exist for users to experience content, the need for CG animation has never been greater.
Come see how Sabertooths use of the Autodesk suite allows them to create amazing CG content for online advertising, websites, mobile applications and games."

Today’s entertainment industry is looking towards education institutions to provide tomorrows talented artists to help build the next big film titles. With the recent release of top films Men in Black 3, Avengers Assemble, and Pixar’s Brave, graduates are leaving the university setting to a career that hosts film credits.

At each step, the makers are engaged in an integrated, interdisciplinary collaboration within the virtual world, while it is being created. Starting with the redesign of production itself, Story, Character, Action, and Resolution evolve from idea through prototyping to realization in a non-linear flow.
World-Building expresses the full arc of the designer’s role in making narrative space.

Ryan and Kevin share details about Atomic Fiction's production model, including rendering in the cloud, their use of Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites and the unique culture at their company. In the process, they'll show off some of the studio's high-profile feature film work.